But who will pay all these wages?

Published: Mon 18 May 2020
Updated: Tue 22 November 2022
By steve

In misc.

Who will pay?

We seem to be returning to the 30s. But this time populist governments are desperate to keep voters on board. So they have no option but to cushion unemployment. The big debate of the 30s was whether this would put off the evil day when the economy would have to be restructured in such a way that production was in equilibrium with desired consumption.

It’s remarkable how this sort of debate has been utterly forgotten now.

*FT Article which at least raises the question and has a link to an article by one of my favourite economists: Raghuram Rajan.

I have seen so many articles talking about what the government is going to spend its money on that I cannot even bother to think even to myself “but the government has no resources of its own”. Everytime politicians talk about spending money, it’s not even “taxpayers” money, it’s a transfer from one part of society to another. It’s not even a matter of pushing the cost onto our children or grandchildren: we cannot pull forward resources from the future. We cannot consume now resources that will not be produced until our descendents are consumers: these resources simply do not exist, so they are not available to us even aided by the most magical incantations uttered by the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street.

Comments !

links

social